Bushnell, IL

Bushnell is a McDonough County city whose story begins with the Northern Cross Railroad arriving in 1854. The line gave the new town a name too: Nehemiah Bushnell, the railroad’s president, became the namesake. State Routes 9 and 41 now pass through the center, but the railroad-era layout still shows why the town sits where it does in west-central Illinois. The surrounding country is farm country, with the Illinois River watershed shaping the wider regional geography.

ATTRReva Jackman / CC BY-SA 4.0

Bushnell has an unusually strong horse-show chapter. From 1908, the Truman Pioneer Stud Farm hosted one of the Midwest’s largest shows and brought imported European horses into town. The Bushnell Horse Show still brings Belgian and Percheron hitches, so that old agricultural spectacle has a present-day echo. Bushnell-Prairie City Community Unit School District 170 keeps the school system centered here, while downtown streets, local churches, and the old railroad town pattern carry the everyday side of the place. Bushnell is not just a stop on Route 9; it is a railroad town with a horse-country tradition that still gives the city something distinct to talk about.